The city of Monrego covers a large area and has two train stations. One is located on the outskirts of the city and the other goes directly into the city center.
What Verak and the others arrived at was the outskirts of the city. The prosperity of this area radiated outwards in a small circle with the train station as the center. After crossing a few streets, the prosperity began to fade rapidly, and everything looked dilapidated.
.
Newspapers are flying all over the sky, garbage is piled up at the intersection, new or old notices and wanted orders are posted on the walls, sloppy drunkards are wandering on the streets, children with bright eyes but lackluster eyes are lying on the ground, some inconspicuous ones
In the corner, there are some thieves standing in twos and threes with evil eyes, quietly looking at the direction of the train station...
When Verak and his party saw this scene after getting out of the car, their brows did not relax. The local residents were accustomed to this, but they were busy with their own affairs, as if they were separated by a gap and were not in the same time and space.
"Let's go, let's find a place to stay first." Murphy, who grew up in this ancient and huge city, said suddenly.
"You're familiar with this place. Just pick a place with a reasonable price and minimum safety guarantees." Needless to say, Verak also knew that this place was not peaceful, and safety was the primary concern.
The second issue is funding.
The funds the three of them brought with them were originally quite good, enough to sustain normal expenses for about a year. Although they helped the Shuang Naga Village a little after arriving, they would not have to worry about the rest for a while.
But the situation of the five Lopezes was a bit unexpected. They got on the train to kidnap the nobles. They didn't bring any money at all, and they didn't have much money themselves. If they were to be included in the plan, the funds would be quite scarce.
"The Ronin Begins with Douluo"
Based on this, Verak decided to temporarily live outside the city of Monrego, where prices were low. After he found a way to make money and established connections with other sub-stations to receive assistance, he would then consider moving into the city.
"There is a corpse." Lopez pointed to the side of the garbage dump, where there was a putrid corpse that attracted flies. "People in Monlego City don't clean it up. Aren't they afraid of some infectious disease or plague...
…”
"It should be taken care of, we don't need to worry about it." Murphy was actually not very familiar with this area, but as someone who grew up in Monrego City, he naturally took on the task of leading the way and walked at the front.
The eight people left the train station and blended into the crowd. They soon attracted the attention of the criminals lurking in the dark.
Usually the people who come to this train station are ordinary people, but occasionally sporadic nobles will appear. In short, whether it is the former or the latter, as long as they can get whatever they can, it is a profit, so the simplicity of the luggage of Verak and others does not discourage some tricks.
Coveted by unclean people.
But this is the capital of the Monlego Empire after all. Even in the outer areas, basic order still exists. Few people have the courage to plunder on the streets at will. Most of them follow them secretly and look for suitable opportunities to steal.
Use minimal losses in exchange for maximum benefits.
Verak had quite a lot of experience, and he determined that at least two groups of people were following them just by relying on his keen intuition.
"Do you feel like someone is following us?" he asked, walking in the middle of the team.
"There should be." Murphy, who took the lead, answered simply in Bresci without translating.
"It's our first time here, and they didn't come to our door. It's inappropriate for us to make trouble here rashly..." Verak didn't want to be too fierce, so he picked out the people who were following him and dealt with them. After thinking about it for a while, he told Lopez to wait.
The five men holding guns vaguely revealed the guns at their waists.
This trick seemed to be very effective. After walking for another 200 meters, several people no longer felt like they were being watched secretly.
Verak did not let down his guard easily: "Pay attention to your safety, it's a mess here, both overtly and covertly."
Murphy looked at the horse manure that had not been cleaned up in time on the road and thought of something: "We can take a public carriage and walk towards the city center. The closer to the city center, the busier the streets and the better the security, etc.
When you get to a similar location, find a hotel to stay in. As long as you keep a certain amount of vigilance, there will be basically no problems."
"That also means the price will be higher, right?" Verak asked.
"It will be a little higher. It is precisely because of the increase in consumption level by level that the city of Monlego has formed a circle of invisible barriers, clearly distinguishing the poor areas and the rich areas, and the rich and powerful people have naturally concentrated in them.
They moved into the center, naturally excluding poor civilians from the outside." Murphy said.
"... Let's move forward. That's it." After settling the living issues, they still have many things to be busy with. Verak doesn't want to spend unnecessary energy dealing with various problems arising from the public security environment, so then
A monetary price must be paid.
Not long after, Murphy and a group of people found a public carriage operating route, and took the public carriage slowly for a distance toward the distant city center.
In just three or four kilometers, the outside environment has already changed significantly.
The cleanliness of the streets has improved, and the buildings are still dilapidated, but they are much better than before. The pedestrians are also more neatly dressed, there are no drunkards, and there are no more skinny but pregnant children.
"Why are those children so big-bellied?" Connie looked at the children outside who were generally emaciated, but still barely in healthy shape, and couldn't help but think of the children on the outside.
"Eedema caused by long-term malnutrition, that is, ascites." Verak often saw such people when he lived in Tswold City and during his wandering career before coming to Tswold City. "Actually, it is not all like this. Some of them are like this.
People will starve to the point of losing all their hair and become skin and bones, looking no different from skeletons, or even scarier than skeletons."
"This is Monrego City, the most prosperous city in Monrego..." Connie sighed softly.
"In the eyes of the powerful, I'm afraid this place is not worthy of being called the city of Monrego. It is just a parasite outside the city." Verak has experienced it, and it is not difficult to judge what those high-ranking people are thinking in their hearts.
"arrive."
Murphy's voice brought their minds back.
The eight people got off the bus nearby and arrived at a place where the overall environment was upgraded to a level higher than the area just outside the train station.
"How is it here?" Murphy asked Verak.
Verak turned around and looked around: "This is it."
Murphy immediately found a decent hotel and booked three rooms.
When they didn't meet Lopez and others, they only had one room to pretend to be poor, to take care of each other conveniently, and to save money. Now the number of people has increased sharply, and the number has tripled. The pressure of housing has been put in front of them for the first time.
After everyone settled their living matters and had a quick meal, Verak summoned the seven people for a meeting.
The meeting mainly mentioned three things.
The first thing is security issues.
This place is better than the outer areas, but it does not mean that it is absolutely safe. They will live here for a long time in the future, so they must be vigilant to prevent all dangers from happening.
The second thing is the funding issue.
The current funds are enough for them to last for two or three months. If they cannot find a source of funds in the future, even food and accommodation will become a problem, and all work will have to be suspended, delaying precious time.
The third thing is to prepare for the establishment of the branch station.
It is divided into two parts. They need to divide their troops into two groups. One group needs to establish contact with the main station and other sub-stations, maintain stable communication, and solve some financial problems from here. The other group immediately starts investigating and integrating information related to Monlego.
Then use this to plan the specific establishment matters and specific development direction of the sub-station.
Among the three things, the first thing needs to be kept in mind, the second thing is not urgent yet, and the third thing is best to start working immediately.
As usual, Verak gave everyone a day off to rest and adjust. Starting the day after tomorrow, they will formally work to establish a sub-station and change Monrego.
It's late at night.
Standing in front of the window of a room on the fourth floor of an inconspicuous hotel was a somewhat weathered man smoking a cigarette.
"Virac, Lopez and the others also want to hear the theory of equality, class, and the story of our revolution." Murphy walked into the window.
"Huh..." Verak exhaled a puff of smoke without turning around, "Just go ahead and explain. Anyway, we all know the same thing."
"Are you thinking about something?"
"Yeah, just random thoughts." Verak said.
"Okay, then Connie and I will go to their room first." Murphy said hello and left with Connie.
After smoking out a cigarette quickly, Verak stood in front of the window, as if waiting for something.
Half an hour later, a "bang" gunshot broke the silence of the night, and there was a slight commotion outside, and then it quickly calmed down.
After another ten minutes, gunshots and roars were heard from all directions again.
From now on, after a period of time, there will always be some commotion in certain places, indicating that this area is not peaceful.
Verak took a deep breath and closed the window.
In those gunshots and battles, there were desperadoes and patrol teams, and there must also be people who were fighting against the government with a weak force.
In such a big city and in such a miserable situation, there must be people like this.
Now Verak has not been able to gather the people with lofty ideals in this city, and can only make simple judgments from the sounds that come and go in the middle of the night, but one day, they will gather together to overthrow the city of Monrego.
The next day, October 20
It was so early in the morning that Murphy didn't even bother to eat, so he took a cloth bag with him and prepared to go out.
"What are you doing here?" Verak also wanted to ask Murphy to take him out for a walk after dinner, so he could walk around and see more of this big city.
"I'm going to the cemetery." Murphy said.
"Looking at your parents?"
"Um."
Verak's expression became more serious: "There's no need to be in such a hurry. Sit down and eat your food first. After eating, we'll go together."
"……good."
After finishing breakfast and talking to Lopez and others who were still awake in the next room, Verak, Murphy, and Connie left the hotel and took a public carriage toward a direction farther from the city center.
Murphy remained silent on the road, holding a cloth bag in his hand and staring ahead.
Connie looked around curiously, taking in the exotic customs and customs.
Verak looked around from time to time, but most of the time he was secretly observing Murphy, always ready to take care of his emotions.
Murphy doesn't like to talk much. He used to be calm and reserved and was appreciated by Verak and Keating. Now because he has his brother Diaz's last wish on his shoulders, he has become a little eager, but he has not done anything extraordinary.
Verak could think of how difficult it had been for his family over the years from running a well-known martial arts gym to having his family broken up, Murphy being seriously ill, and Diaz living in Laize, the capital of Bresci, as an underground boxer.
Murphy can get over the invisible pressure and sadness as soon as possible.
After taking a public carriage and walking for quite a while, the three finally arrived at the cemetery where Diaz and Murphy's parents are buried.
The moment he saw the cemetery, Murphy breathed a sigh of relief.
He hadn't been back for a long time, and Monrego was undergoing great changes every day. He was afraid that the cemetery would suddenly disappear.
Verak and Connie followed Murphy into the cemetery at a fast pace, all the way to the place where his parents were buried.
"Let's just stand here." When he was still six or seven meters away from Murphy and the tombstone in front of him, Verak stopped Connie, and they stood there silently looking at Murphy.
I saw that Murphy, who had always been expressionless, had some changes on his face. He talked to himself like a chatterbox, opened the bag in his hand, and sprinkled a handful of soil inside.
"That's..." Connie didn't understand.
"It should be...the soil in front of Comrade Diaz's tombstone..." This is the only possibility that Verak can think of.
This is exactly the case.
When Murphy set off from the International Equality Alliance Headquarters to join Verak, he specifically passed by Laize and went to the cemetery to pick up a piece of earth in front of his brother Diaz's tombstone.
The symbolic meaning of this holding of soil is very profound.
The moment he sprinkled it, in his heart, his brother who was buried thousands of miles away was reconnected with his parents.
Verak was afraid that standing here would cause Murphy any discomfort, so he retreated a lot from Connie.
Ten minutes later, Murphy took a deep breath and walked towards them: "Okay, let's go."
"Won't you stay any longer?" Verak suggested.
When he was under great psychological pressure, if he had time to go to the cemetery, he would chat for a long time with his fallen companions. This kind of chat was to slowly release his accumulated emotions.
Murphy had a different personality than him and did not accept this suggestion: "No need."
Verak did not force it, he stepped forward alone, bowed solemnly to the tombstone, and then left the cemetery with Murphy and Connie.
"Do you feel better?" Connie asked with concern.
"I'm fine, don't worry about me." Murphy didn't seem to mean what he said.
"That's fine." Verak smiled and changed the topic without exposing it, "It's still early, let's go shopping and go to the city center to see what it's like there."
Murphy, who had not been back for many years, did not know how much Monlego City had changed. He also wanted to re-experience the absurdity of his hometown: "Let's go."